Tam predicts low uptake for J&J's single-shot COVID-19 vaccine
Catharine Tunney | CBC News | Posted: June 15, 2021 5:35 PM | Last Updated: June 15, 2021
More than 300,000 doses won't be released in Canada due to quality control concerns
Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam says she's not expecting high demand for the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine because of the large number of Canadians who have received a first dose of another vaccine already.
On Friday, Health Canada announced that more than 300,000 doses of the single-shot COVID-19 vaccine will not be released to the public to "protect the health and safety of Canadians."
The vaccines arrived back in April but had been under close scrutiny after the regulator learned the substance in them was manufactured at the Emergent BioSolutions facility in Baltimore, where there have been quality control issues.
Tam said that under the terms of the supply contract between the company and the federal government, Johnson & Johnson likely will have to replace the unreleased doses.
"As to whether we need the doses, though, we're actually doing some detailed work with the provinces and territories. It depends whether they would use any future Janssen doses," Tam told reporters today. Janssen is Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceutical division.
"I think that with the supply of mRNA doses coming in and the fact that so many people in our country having already received that first dose anyway, the opportunities to use Janssen [are] much lower."
According to CBC's vaccine tracker, close to 65 per cent of Canadians have received at least one dose so far and 13.5 per cent are fully vaccinated. Tam said that since the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is only available to people who've never had a COVID-19 vaccine dose, "I think that there'll be very limited use of this vaccine going into the future."
WATCH: Tam says there may be 'limited use' for Johnson & Johnson vaccine going forward
Johnson & Johnson had to throw out more than 15 million doses of vaccine made at the plant in early April after it was discovered workers had mixed up the formula with one for the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, which was also being made there.
Clarifications:- A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that 65 per cent of all eligible Canadians have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. In fact, 65 per cent of the Canadian population has had one shot. More than 74 per cent of all eligible Canadians — people over the age of 12 — have been partially vaccinated. June 15, 2021 8:11 PM